Josh Elliot was abruptly fired by CBS News on Monday and escorted out of the building by security.
Elliot, who has been a CBS daytime anchor for about a year, had first shocked his own bosses on Friday, when he made an emotional farewell announcement to viewers without letting network executives know beforehand, Page Six reported.
"It has been by any measure a great stay here at CBSN," Elliott said, telling viewers it would be his "last day."
"This is a mess of epic proportions," a CBS source told Page Six. "Nobody at the top at CBS News knew that Josh was going to do that."
Elliott, who joined CBS from NBC in 2016, had recently met with the network's head of talent, Laurie Orlando, who said she wanted him to play a bigger role at CBS News.
But then Elliott "announced his departure without warning" on Friday, the network insider said. "Executives at CBS were stunned."
Three days later on Monday, "Josh was called to a meeting with CBS News heads including [president] David Rhodes and fired," a source told Page Six.
It is unclear why CBS would have fired Elliott after he announced on Friday that he was leaving anyway.
The source also noted that Elliot had to be escorted out of the building by security after the conversation.
"Meanwhile, Laurie Orlando, who seems to be responsible for much of this mess, is missing," the source added. "Nobody has seen her. This is a mystifying situation."
Sources close to Elliott said Friday that his executive producer was supposed to notify CBS executives of his plan to leave the network but never did so.
"CBS News and Josh Elliott are parting ways," CBS said in a statement. "Josh will no longer be reporting for CBS News. We are grateful for his contributions over the last year, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors."
Elliott, a former co-host of "Good Morning America" on ABC, has now been fired from three main networks–ABC, NBC, and now CBS.